Amarok 2.1.1 Ready, 2.2 On The Way

Development at Amarok is moving fast. Version 2.1.1 has only just been released and already programmers are working on the features of version 2.2.

Called Oceania, the maintenance v2.1.1 intends to make Amarok 2.1 better and more stable and according to Lydia Pintscher, could be the last release of the series. Changes include support for more than 60 artists, an option to hide the context window, applets that are fixed or flowing to fill the whole CV and local m3u files can be loaded from the command line. Because Magnatune.com no longer support payment by credit card, this album purchase option has been removed. In the case of no applets being visible, the context view will display an infobox, filling empty spaces. Developers have also fixed a whole list of bugs, details of which can be found on Pintscher's blog, along with information concerning Amarok's appearance at Linuxtag in Berlin, Germany, next week. Talks and workshops to Amarok will be held in hall 7.2b.

Work on Amarok 2.2 is well under way. New features will include CD support and a video applet that plays suitable videos from YouTube to a chosen song. Within a few hours, 250 slices of code were committed to the developers repository, says Nikolaj Hald Nielsen in his blog.

A video showing the new changes is available, although it does contain visual mistakes and bugs from earlier versions. It demonstrates a video application that plays YouTube videos and podcasts, how the interface can be adjusted and the re-worked menu.

Further changes include subjective playlists based on recommendations from Last FM, improved browser interaction and simplified navigation. So whereas earlier variations have tried to re-animate existing functions, it seems the latest version of Amarok 2.2 will obviously bring much that is new.

Until now, watching YouTube videos offline has been an awkward business, possible only with Firefox plugins or similar contraptions. Now, with the help of Creative Commons licenses, this could soon change.

YouTube offers more than just funny kitten movies; you will also find more than 60 million music videos. With a native YouTube client for Linux, you can use this online jukebox as conveniently as your local music collection.